Happy New Year!

The start of a new year ushers in the feeling of a fresh start with plenty of potential and often an equally plentiful list of resolutions to uphold. This year, we think making a few Social Media Resolutions for 2015 is the perfect way to outline the social media expectations for your property and to ensure efforts across your social channels align with your hotel’s sales, marketing and customer service goals for the year.

We took the liberty of doing a bit of the heavy lifting (getting back to the gym is on our list). Here are a few suggestions of social media resolutions for hoteliers:

Shift your focus.

It is safe to say that social media is not going away, but it is changing. Make 2015 the year of the social conversation — reply to the influx of inbound messages with improved response rates and times. The travel industry is experiencing some of the largest increases in messages, but engaged only 19 percent of the tweets received at a rate of 11.6 hours after receiving a message, according to Sprout Social. Target Millennial travelers by making social media the epicenter of you property’s customer service efforts. Make a plan to determine how to not only develop content, but respond to and engage the people talking to you and about you on social media.

Embrace video.

Video will make up 79 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2017, according to Cisco. This means adding video posts or creating that YouTube channel you’ve been meaning to put together should be a priority. Video sharing is a popular way to engage audiences on social media. Show off your hotel in video posts this year.

Take ownership of your online reputation.

Never got around to responding to those online reviews last year? According to a recent TripAdvisor study, properties responding to over 50 percent of their reviews increase their likelihood of receiving booking inquiries by 24 percent in comparison to hotels that do not post review responses. Not only does it hurt your property’s bookings, but with Facebook reviews and guests quick to share their experiences on social, you put your ever-valuable online reputation in the balance by not responding. Don’t have time to answer them? Consider outsourcing it.

Make posting fresh content easy.

Does your property have a blog? It is a proven way for guests to find your property via search, but it also provides a wealth of content to post across your social channels which means potential for increased engagement. The key to a successful blog is consistent content, so make sure to develop a posting schedule before getting started.

Best wishes on achieving your property’s goals and developing an even greater social media presence in the new year. Contact us for more social media best practices or to learn more about how our social media marketing services can help you reach your 2015 goals.